Quite literally away with the faeries

Tag Archives: dragons

This is fairly normal for me, as you can imagine. But this one time when I was riding my dragon through the night air (escaping something, if I remember correctly), I remember exactly how it felt. And the sensation was beyond magnificent.

The lurching, the swaying, the feeling that the ground was so far away. The sweep of enormous wings underneath my legs like sails. The air rushing past, not warm, not cold. I felt the currents of the wind carrying us through the night. And the roar. Oh… It was glorious. Majesty and might in one earth-shaking thunderous noise.

Was this the most vivid dream I’d ever experienced? Or did I own a pet dragon in another life and this was just a memory? I’m hoping for the latter.

Dragons are probably the best known magical creatures in media. Literature, movies, games, music, dragons have left their claw-marks on the collective hive-mind of fantasy fans. Often the symbol of kings and great heroes, dragons can be beautiful, terrifying, powerful, and dangerous.

One thing we need to address first and foremost:

Dragons have four legs and wings. Wyverns have two legs and two wings.

The dragons of Skyrim, Game of Thrones, and Harry Potter, are wyverns. The dragons of Dragon Age, Dragonheart, and How to Train Your Dragon, are Dragons. (Well, mostly; I’ve noticed a few wyverns sneaking in HTTYD)

I imagine one isn’t really interested in counting legs when one is on FIRE.

King Arthur’s surname means “chief dragon”. Fitting for the Once and Future King. England’s patron saint, St George is famous for slaying a dragon. A popular folk tale where I live tells of the Lambton Worm, a poisonous dragon (or wyrm) so large it wraps itself around a hill and devours livestock.

In France, dragons are used in the stories of Christianity triumphing over Paganism. Dragons symbolise raw, wild, untapped power.

Myths, legends, folklore, even Bible stories are rife with dragons. The Devil himself is often depicted as one in his most powerful form.

Dragons who don’t speak are animalistic, therefore act as animals do. “I am hungry, therefore I shall eat.” Do we begrudge cats killing mice and birds? It’s their nature. It just so happens “birds and mice” to a dragon are “cows and sheep and the occasional human” to us. They don’t know any better, they’re just hungry animals.

Of course, not all dragons are like this. (Yes, I used the phrase #NotAllDragons.) A famous phrase states “Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.” But some dragons, like Draco from Dragonheart, strive to be good and help humanity.

Dragons are wise. They have to be, they’re long-living beings. They can’t live for hundreds, maybe thousands of years, and not accumulate knowledge just as they accumulate wealth. In Braveheart, dragons are shown to save humans in danger. A stark contrast to, say, Smaug, who can’t help noticing how tasty Bilbo looks.

Eregon, book and movie, has an interesting spin on dragons. They imprint on a human (their ‘rider’) upon hatching, can hold telepathic conversations, and share sight with each other. Mushu, from Mulan, remains to this day one of my favourite Eddie Murphy roles. Yes, it’s lighthearted and goofy, but he’s a funny dragon. Who can’t love a funny dragon?

In conclusion, I’m beyond excited to start work on the as-of-yet untitled book three, because I can finally write about dragons, and describe them in all their awesome majesty, and give them all the respect and honour they’re due.

This post has nothing to do with the title, I just adore this line and will be inserting it into Age of Magic as soon as possible 😀 click-bait for dragon nerds like me! I will actually compose a post about dragons shortly, I swear.

So, hello, hello, and hello to all of my darling pixies whom I have been severely neglecting these past few weeks! I am a bad, bad mistress, and as punishment, I will not be eating cookies for a week.

Except this one I have in my hand right now. *nom*

This is a very brief post, and I’m very sorry 😦 I’m going to try and post more, I swear I am. Things have just been extra-hectic at the Day Job because we’re moving to a brand new office next week. Huzzah.

I’ve also been squirrelling away with writing Age of Magic. We’re now officially OVER HALF-WAY COMPLETE 😀 *fistpump*

Still such a dorky move, Snipes…

Speaking of dorky, WHO WATCHED THE GAME OF THRONES SEASON FINALE?! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG FLAIL PLOT TWIST.

Too tired at present for a full-on fangirl breakdown, but from about 15 minutes in, I had this look plastered on my face:

Yep. Wasn’t pretty.

Anyway, I’ll be attending an Author Evening at my local library in September (thanks to the fantastic organisational skills of an old friend of mine, who works for the libraries where we live). It should be fun and interesting, and will hopefully to promote The Old Ways a little 🙂

I’ve got an extremely busy weekend lined up, but I’m going to try and post a little more often. Like I said, I’ll post something good about dragons soon 😀

I recently learned that someone I know doesn’t like bread. I mean, what? Who doesn’t like bread? It’s like the blandest of foods. How can you not like bread? It’s so versatile. Don’t you eat toast? What about sandwiches? What about bagels? Is it just white bread? Is it the texture or the taste you don’t like? This has really messed me up.

In other news, I’VE SEEN THE INITIAL DRAWING OF THE FRONT COVER FOR THE OLD WAYS AND IT LOOKS AWESOME 😀 I was almost in tears when I first saw it. Which wasn’t good, since I was at work and everyone thought some nasty person had upset me. I’m too emotional for my own good.

Heeeeyyy who’s been watching Game of Thrones? (I HAVEN’T SEEN THE LAST EPISODE OF SEASON 5 NO SPOILERS EVERYONE SHUSH.) I just wanted to bring it up because of this:

#relationshipgoals

It’s been my dream since I was a wee child to ride a dragon. So when I saw this scene, I was so hyped. I mean, my face was actually the shape of the :O emoji. BUT, my only problem is– well… look at that gif again. Really look at it. It’s really bugging me. It bugged me when I first watched it, and it’s bugging me watching it again here.

WHY ISN’T HER HAIR MOVING?

Okay, I know it’s moving a little bit, I’m not completely mental. But for those of you with uber long hair (like myself), you’ll know how less-than-awesome you feel when you get lashed in the face by your own locks. Sometimes, if it’s really windy, and I’m talking to someone, I will actually inhale my own hair. I pull the most gruesome of faces and start hacking up hairballs like a giant cat.

But Daenerys? Oh no. She gets this lovely doe-eyed look and a gentle breeze tickling her face, while she’s currently RIDING AN ENORMOUS BLACK FIRE-BREATHING DRAGON. I mean, come on! Try to look a little less Juliet and a little more Xena.

Also, it kinda looks like she’s wearing jeans under that delicate silk frock. Just sayin’.

I miss Viserys 😦 sure, he was a psychotic megalomaniac Disk One Final Boss, but he was still a cool villain. And it was Harry Lloyd.

I’m starting to suspect I have a thing for sharp cheekbones…

There was something else I wanted to talk about as well, but for the life of me I can’t quite remember what it was… oh, I guess it wasn’t that important. I’m sure I’ll remember at ten to midnight tonight when I’m just about to fall asleep. Oh well.

I haven’t got much to say right now. I’ve had the flu for a week, so I’m going to do a special blog post that gives you ten facts about me, instead of doing something constructive *evil laugh*

1) I hate spiders. Seriously, with a burning passion. Last night, whilst watching I, Frankenstein (a strange movie, by the way. Basically just watch Underworld and replace the vampires with gargoyles and the werewolves with demons and you can say you’ve seen it), a huge ugly garden spider started crawling across the floor. We paused the movie and got rid of the spider. Ten minutes later, and EVEN BIGGER SPIDER appeared, closer to me this time. And when we paused the movie to catch it, holy crap did that spider run for its life… and that’s why I don’t like spiders.

2) For as much as I love dragons, I can’t stand the movie Reign of Fire. It’s just silly. Now Dragonheart, that’s another story altogether…

3) I’m an RPG player. I adore Elder Scrolls, and I love Dragon Age. I’m so excited for Inquisition to be released later this year, and despite everyone screaming that they can’t wait to play as a Qunari/Kossith, I’m sticking to what I know and love and I’m making my Inquisitor a Dalish elf. Or any elf, really. She doesn’t have to be Dalish. Okay, I’ll stop now, sorry…

4) I still sleep with a teddy bear. Yes, I’m twenty-four years old. Don’t judge me. His name is Bunnykins. No, he’s not a bunny. He’s a bear. He’s called Bunnykins because he’s wearing bunny slippers. He used to have glow-in-the-dark clouds and moons and stars on his pajamas, but now he’s so old, they’ve worn away.

5) I was named after two famous literary characters. Both fantastically bitchy women who refuse to be forgotten or dominated by men. Also, in my day-to-day life, I go by my middle name, which makes for a great Rumpelstiltskin-like game in which I get people to guess what my first name really is. Just… without the whole “I’m taking your first-born child if you can’t guess my name” thing…

I also really love Once Upon A Time…

6) My favourite movie of all time is The Princess Bride. I once let my friend borrow the DVD and I didn’t see it again for two years. I just feel like it has everything that makes a movie great. It has action, romance, comedy, suspense, fantasy, unforgettable characters, I just love everything about it. And even though I could probably recite the whole thing by heart, I would watch it again at any moment.

7) I love hats. Winter, summer, any time, I love hats. Big ones, little ones, fluffy ones, sensible ones. The only hat I hate wearing is a cap. Despite having a “head for hats”, as my mother says, I don’t suit caps. Weird, isn’t it?

8) I find Tom Hiddleston and Benedict Cumberbatch to be two of the most attractive men on the entire planet. I truly believe I have some strange thing for sharp cheekbones and long legs. Seriously, those guys are like six-feet-tall or something. It’s also the reason I watched War Horse. I knew I could never watch a movie about a horse without sobbing like a child, but when I discovered those two were in it? Well… you can imagine what happened on my way to the cinema…

9) I’m disgustingly sarcastic in my everyday life. Not much else I can say about this one, other than I think there should be a sarcasm font.

10) Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite authors. In fact… no, he’s my favourite author. Anansi Boys, Neverwhere, and American Gods are my three favourite novels by him, and I’d love to meet him one day, shake his hand, and say “THANK YOU FOR BEING AWESOME”. In a totally uncreepy way, of course.

This is all I have for now. I can post more when I feel better. In the meantime, pity me, and beware of spiders.